Missouri’s Ahmad Hardy is set to be back on the field in week nine, and that matters for the New Orleans Saints.
Hardy has been out for the first eight weeks because of an offseason injury, but his season debut is finally coming. For a Saints team searching for help in the run game, that’s the kind of development worth watching closely.
The production was never the issue. Hardy put together a massive 2025 season, finishing second in the FBS with 1,648 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns.
That followed a freshman year at Louisiana Monroe in which he ran for 1,346 yards. He’s been a true workhorse and has shown he can carry an offense.
His road back has been anything but simple. Hardy was shot this offseason and had to go through a lengthy rehab process, but he’s now fully recovered and ready for SEC competition.
He won’t be thrown right back into a full workload. Pete Thamel reported that Hardy will not start this week and will only get a handful of carries at first.
The plan is to ease him in over the next few games before he gets back to his usual role. Even so, his return is a major boost for his draft stock.
On the field, Hardy brings the kind of traits that translate. He runs with force, breaks tackles, and rarely goes down to one defender. He’s strong enough to push through arm tackles and slippery enough to make defenders miss in the open field.
The vision stands out too. Hardy gives his blocks time to develop, then finds the cutback lane and hits it with sudden acceleration. He doesn’t have elite top-end speed, but he’s fast enough to pull away once he gets rolling.
For New Orleans, the fit is obvious. Their run game has been rough, and it’s hard to ignore how thin things have gotten when 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers has more rushing yards than their leading running back.
The Saints added Travis Etienne this offseason to help fix that, but he hasn’t done much yet and is currently on IR with a hamstring injury. Alvin Kamara is getting close to retirement, and Kendre Miller still hasn’t made the jump toward stardome. That leaves the Saints with plenty to sort out, and Hardy could be the kind of back worth chasing next offseason to ease the load on Tyler Shough.
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Saints Offense Has Turned One Early Fear Into A Real Problem
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One of the biggest concerns is how often the unit is backing itself into difficult situations, where the margin for error disappears and the defense can pin its ears back. Shough has flashed enough to keep the conversation from turning entirely bleak, but the overall picture is still one of an offense searching for answers, even as a few individual performances have stood out along the way. [Read more 🡒]